The Fish Tank
by Paragon Dragon
Summary: You bought a FISH TANK?" - slash, McNozzo. Written as a NFA Hangman prize for Smackalicous. COMPLETE. A/N: Contains a minor spoiler for a season 5 ep. Find out more inside.


**Disclaimer: the recognizable characters belong to their original creators. This story is for entertainment only. No money is being made.**

**A/N: the dog refers to 5.13 dog tags  
**

**

* * *

  
**

Tony felt a smile appear on his lips when he saw Tim's car parked in front of their apartment building. Tim had left to do some errands about an hour before Tony had taken Jethro for a nice, long run, and he was happy that Tim had gotten home before them. Apparently his errands hadn't taken so long as Tim had thought they would.

The dog's ear's perked up when he spotted the car and looked up at his second master, his jaws open in a huge grin with his tongue dangling out to one side. Tony smiled back at him and ruffled the fur between his ears**. **

"Me too, boy", he said. "Come on."

They went inside and ran up the stairs to their floor. Jethro skidded to a halt outside the door and scratched on it with his claws, whining deep down his throat to get Tony to hurry up and open. Tony chuckled and pushed the dog aside, and had barely gotten inside and unleashed Jethro before the dog took off an ran straight to the kitchen. Tony listened to Tim greeting the dog before he went to the kitchen himself. He found Tim crouching on the floor with a very enthusiastic Jethro between his knees, the dog licking his face like it was no tomorrow.

"Hey", Tony said and leaned against the door frame. "How long have you been home?"

"About half an hour", Tim replied and stood up after giving Jethro one last pat. "How was the run?"

"Good. Jethro tried to chase after a squirrel in the park though, but other than that, it was nice. And now I'm gonna hit the shower."

"You think you can hurry up? I need you to help me with the fish tank."

Tony gave Tim a puzzled look. "What fish tank?"

Tim stepped aside a little so that Tony could get a clear view of the large, glass tank behind him.

"You bought a _fish tank_?"

"Yes. We talked about it last week, remember? You agreed that it would be nice with a tank in the living room, so now I've bought one."

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again in defeat and rolled his eyes.

"What?" Tim demanded to know, but Tony just shook his head.

"Nothing. It's nothing. Let me just take my shower. We can discuss this later, okay?"

Tony left the kitchen and headed for the bath room, shedding his damp, sweat soaked clothes on the way. He took his time in the shower, trying to recall the conversation about getting a fish tank, and he thought he could remember something about it being mentioned once, but he probably hadn't paid that much attention at the time. And now he had to face the consequences.

Refreshed and wearing a clean set of clothes, Tony went back to the kitchen where Tim was scrubbing the fish tank frantically with a sponge, and by the smell of it he was using chlorine. Tony watched for a few seconds from the door way, and then he went to stand next to Tim, leaning against the counter.

"Did I really agree to us getting a fish tank?" he asked and got a dark frown from Tim.

"Yes, you did. Don't you remember?"

"I remember it being mentioned, _right before you fried my brain._ You know what that does to me!"

That certain memory brought a smile to Tim's full lips and made his eyes sparkle in that special way that always made Tony a bit weak in the knees. Tony shook himself and forced himself to focus. Now was not really the time to drag Tim to the bedroom, even though he wanted to. Revenge would have to come later.

"Is there any way you can return.. that?" he asked and pointed at the tank.

"Yes, but I don't want to", Tim said matter-of-factly and continued his scrubbing. "I've always wanted a fish tank and now that we have room for one I'm gonna keep it. And you _did_say yes, Tony.

Tony opened his mouth again but felt that it was no use to continue arguing about since it was clear that Tim already had made up his mind. And if Tony already had agreed to it it was not much he could do about it anyway. Forgetting about it because Tim had made him see stars using that very skilled tongue of his just a few moments after wasn't really good as an excuse either, so Tony decided that he had no other choice but to give in.

"Fine, I'll take your word for it", he said. "But do you know anything about taking care of fish?"

"I've done some research and the guy at the fish shop gave me some advice. It's not that hard. We just have to make sure to feed them every day, change the water once in a while and remove dead plants as soon as we spot them. The hardest part is to get the tank ready for the fish and then select fish that can live together."

"So the rest is easy?"

"More or less. So, do you wanna help me with this or not?"

****

"So, um, just how long will it take before we can get the fish?" Tony asked after they had put the aquarium on its stand in the living room and filled it with water. The bottom of it was now covered with a thick layer of substrate and they had also installed the filters, pumps and heater.

"A week or two. Maybe more", Tim said thoughtfully. "First we have to get a bacteria culture started to take care of the waste, and the we'll have to put in the plants and let them adapt for a while. Then we'll get the fish."

"So this will take a while?"

"I guess so."

"Good. Then you won't mind that we do this while we wait."

Tony pounced on Tim and devoured his mouth. He could feel Tim melt against him and heard low moans escape his throat. When they broke apart, Tim's face was flushed and he was panting hard, staring at Tony with surprised and lust filled eyes.

"Tony?" he managed to say and steadied himself by grabbing a handful of Tony's shirt.

"Payback time, Timmy", Tony said with a low, husky voice and looked Tim straight in the eyes while slowly unbuttoning his shirt. "Your ass belongs to me tonight."

A second later Tim found himself being dragged to the bedroom where Tony planned to fry his brain just as badly as Tim had fried Tony's the other week, if not worse.

Revenge was sweet.

*******

A few week later Tim dragged Tony along to the fish shop to choose their fish. Tony only came along because Tim wanted him to and mostly stood back and listened while Tim and the shop assistant discussed what kind of fish would suit them best. After about an hour Tim had finally chosen the fish he wanted and got them bagged for transportation. Tony let out a small sigh with relief and got ready to leave, but realized that Tim wasn't really done yet when he suddenly turned to him with a look of determination in his eyes.

"Tony, I want you to pick out a fish, too", he said and looked Tony straight in the eyes. "Please?"

"That's not necessary, Tim", Tony. "I..."

"Tony, please", Tim cut off. "For me. It will make it feel more like our tank instead of just mine. Just one little fishy."

Tony groaned when Tim gave him his special puppy dog look, the one he knew Tony couldn't refuse. Tony gave in and started to look around, but most of the fish he was interested in turned out to not be able to live with their other fish. He was just about to give up when he spotted a brown, bizarre looking fish lying in the middle of the tank, pressed flat against the bottom of its tank. It was kind of broad and flat, with a pattern on its head that made it look like a dead leaf or something.

"What about that one?" he asked the assistant and pointed. "Can he live with the others Tim's chosen."

"Yes", he said. "That shouldn't be any problem. Do you want it?"

"Yeah, I'll take it."

"Isn't he a bit ugly?" Tim asked and looked quizzically at the fish.

"You said I should pick one, Tim", Tony retorted. "All your pretty fish need something ugly to balance them. Besides, I like him."

They paid for the fish and a few hours later they could finally enjoy their fish tank fully when Tim let out the last one from its bag after it had slowly gotten used to the water in the tank. Tony's fish had got into hiding almost immediately, but the others swam around and seemed more or less confused.

"Looks nice, doesn't it?" Tim said and smiled at Tony.

"Yeah, it does. It even looks nicer than I thought. Kind of like having a part of nature indoors."

"That's the point of having a fish tank, Tony."

"Right."

Tim pulled Tony in for an affectionate kiss and then tugged at his hand.

"Come on", he said. "Let's leave them alone for a while. That goes for you too, Jethro."

Up until that point, the German Shepherd had sat liked glued in front of the tank, staring fascinatingly at the strange, colorful creatures that were moving back and forth in there. He stood up reluctantly and followed his masters away from the tank and laid down by their feet when they sat on the couch. They turned the TV on, but none of them paid much attention to what was on.

"I was thinking", Tony said after a while, "maybe we could get a parrot next? I always wanted one of those as a kid."

"Tony, we're not getting a parrot", Tim said firmly.

"Why not? You got your fish."

"That's not the same thing. Fish more or less take care of themselves and they don't disturb anybody. Parrots are noisy and what if Jethro decides to chase it? It will be a huge mess if that happens."

"Then we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Tony, we're _not_ getting a parrot."

"I'm just saying that _mmph-_"

Tim efficiently cut Tony off by shoving his tongue down his throat. A short moment later he felt Tony melt against him and a hand came up to comb through Tim's hair, the other one wrapped itself around Tim's waist and held him close. It didn't take long before Tony had forgotten everything about parrots and was totally focused on what Tim was doing with his hands and tongue.

God, how he loved that man.

-

-

-

**The End!**


End file.
